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Copyright of BMS: Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique (Sage Publications Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this overview, we discuss the current state of survey methodology in a form that is useful and informative to a general social science audience. The article covers existing challenges, dilemmas, and opportunities for survey researchers and social scientists. We draw on the most current research to articulate our points; however, we also speculate on both technological and cultural changes that currently influence or may soon affect the efficacy of different methodological choices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Because health care providers have a central role in implementing guidelines, health care reform, and new standards of care and technologies, surveying them about their practices and perspectives is vital for health services and policy research. In November 2010, the National Cancer Institute convened a workshop to review and discuss current methodologies in designing and fielding large-scale surveys of physicians and medical groups. This report summarizes key issues and future directions for four topic areas addressed in the workshop: sample frames for surveying physicians and medical groups; points of contact and response modes; response incentives; and questionnaire design and burden. Recommendations were made for improving sample frame databases, optimizing mixed-mode surveys, and studying use of incentives with gatekeepers and in medical group settings. There is particular need for empirical assessment of factors that motivate or impede participation of physicians, other types of clinicians, and medical groups in survey research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respondents follow simple heuristics in interpreting the visual features of questions. The authors carried out two experiments in two panels to investigate how the effect of visual heuristics affects the answers to survey questions. In the first experiment, the authors varied the distance between scale points in a 5-point scale to investigate whether respondents use the conceptual or visual midpoint of a scale. In the second experiment, the authors used different end point labels of a 5-point scale, by adding different shadings of color and numbers that differed both in sign and value (2 to -2), to study whether options that are similar of appearance are considered conceptually closer than when they are dissimilar in appearance. The authors predicted that there is a hierarchy of features that respondents attend to, with verbal labels taking precedence over numerical labels, and numerical labels taking precedence over visual cues. The results confirmed the hypothesis: the effect of spacing of response options and different end points was only apparent in polar point scales and not in fully labeled scales. In addition, this study on two panels, with one consisting of extremely trained respondents and the other of relatively fresh respondents, shows that trained respondents are affected by the distance between response options whereas relatively new respondents are not. To reduce the effect of visual cues, taking into account the robustness of results, the authors suggest it is better to use fully labeled 5-point scales in survey questions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Researchers who are interested in small towns and rural communities in the United States often find that they need to conduct their own sample surveys because many large national surveys, such as the American Community Survey, do not collect enough representative responses to make precise estimates. In collecting their own survey data, researchers face a number of challenges, such as sampling and coverage limitations. This article summarizes those challenges and tests mail and Internet methodologies for collecting data in small towns and rural communities using the U.S. Postal Service's Delivery Sequence File as a sample frame. Findings indicate that the Delivery Sequence File can be used to sample households in rural locations by sending them invitations via postal mail to respond to either paper-and-pencil or Internet surveys. Although the mail methodology is quite successful, the results for the Internet suggest that Web surveys alone exclude potentially important segments of the population of small towns and rural communities. However, Web surveys supplemented with postal questionnaires produce results quite similar to those of mail-only surveys, representing a possible cost savings for researchers who have access to Web survey capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the visual design of scalar questions influences responses in web surveys. We present the results of five experiments embedded in two web surveys of university students. We find that consistently presenting the positive end of the scale first did not impact responses but increases response times. Displaying the categories in multiple columns influence how respondents process the scale and increase response times. Separating the midpoint, ''don't know'' option, or endpoints spatially does not impact responses when the visual and conceptual midpoint align. Removing the graphical layout of the scale influences responses when lower numbers indicate more positive categories and increases response time. Finally, response times are longer for polar point scales with numeric labels, but there are no differences in responses. Overall, our results suggest that the visual design of response scales impacts measurement, but that some manipulations produce larger and more significant differences than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some argue that use of the Internet tends to pull people's interests away from their local area and weaken community ties (e.g., Kraut et al., 1998). Others argue that the Internet is frequently used to strengthen local ties, and is becoming a tool for helping communities organize to achieve local interests (Hampton and Wellman, 2003). Our results from a 2005 random sample mail survey of 1,315 households in a rural region of the Western United States suggest that increased Internet usage is positively related to nominal and active levels of community participation while at the same time supporting affective networks outside the local area. The location of these communities in a rural region of the West and their substantial distance from a larger population concentration provide the opportunity to draw implications for community development in the Information age and address theoretical concerns about the effects of information technologies on communities of place and local social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in survey mode for conducting panel surveys may contribute significantly to survey error. This article explores the causes and consequences of such changes in survey mode. The authors describe how and why the choice of survey mode often causes changes to be made to the wording of questions, as well as the reasons that identically worded questions often produce different answers when administered through different modes. The authors provide evidence that answers may change as a result of different visual layouts for otherwise identical questions and suggest ways to keep measurement the same despite changes in survey mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the effect that the ranges presented in answer categories for survey questions can have on respondent answers. Responses categories were manipulated in a split-ballot survey conducted in both telephone and mail modes. These categories presented in the separate ballots, overlapped in one category; the other categories were unique to each ballot. The experiment was conducted on four questions: two frequent and mundane and two rare and salient. It was found that the response categories significantly affected the response for frequent and mundane questions. One question demonstrated a significant difference in response between the mail and telephone modes. For this question, a response scale with a limited number of socially desirable alternatives resulted in a social desirability effect in the telephone mode. Alternatively, the telephone mode demonstrated an extremeness effect when the response scale comprised a greater number of socially desirable alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low response rates, poor data quality and the perceived necessity of limiting oneself to only a few questions have contributed to avoidance of mail questionnaires in studies of the general public. The effectiveness of a particular method for eliciting response to lengthy questionnaires was tested on state-wide samples of the general public in Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina, and Washington. The method, which depends on systematically manipulating all aspect of the data collection process produced response rates of from 69.7 percent to 75.2 percent. It Was equally effective in rural and urban regions. The data quality, as measured by item non-response, was uniformly high throughout the 85-165 item questionnaires. Results demonstrate that high response from the general public is possible. We conclude that poor mail questionnaire return rates can no more be excused than can inadequate theory and/or inappropriate statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the reasons behind the differences observed in responses across survey modes. A factor which affects the asking of many kinds of questions is cited. A mode difference that has been accentuated by the development of Internet surveying is given. The interconnected challenges posed by the trend in maximizing design features for each survey mode.